Signalling the start of consolidation in the super-competitive space, Moj's owner ShareChat and MX TakaTak's owners MX Media decided on February 10 to merge their short-form video apps.

Though the deal value remains undisclosed, reports suggest ShareChat could pay up to $600-700 million to bring MX TakaTak into its fold.

After the transaction, MX Media and its shareholders would become a part of ShareChat, which will assume the responsibility to run both the short-form apps.

For now, MX TakaTak will continue to function as a separate platform. The two platforms' creator base, content supply and recommendation algorithms will be integrated in the coming months, according to the joint statement.

The combined short video platform will have over 300 million monthly users, with Moj and MX TakaTak contributing about 150 million users each.

"MX TakaTak is a popular platform, and this merger further solidifies our position in the short video ecosystem. With this development, we aim to build the largest original content platform on Moj along with the largest community of users across India," said Ankush Sachdeva, CEO and Co-founder, ShareChat & Moj.

This is one of the biggest developments in the short-form video space since India banned TikTok in mid-2020, which led to the rise of 'Desi' platforms such as Moj, Josh, MX TakaTak, Roposo and Zili, who are today competing with global giants — Instagram Reels, Facebook Reels and YouTube Shorts. In fact, ShareChat's founders claim to have built Moj within 30 hours after the TikTok ban.

Surely, TikTok showed the way, scaling its platform to nearly 200 million monthly users before exiting India.

The pandemic years have changed the landscape, with Instagram Reels leading in urban India as ShareChat's Moj, Chingari, and InMobi's Roposo found popularity in small-town India.

Indian platforms are attracting close to 170-190 million unique users from beyond the top 50 Indian cities every month, according to a RedSeer report.

As India's next half a billion internet users come online, the fight could turn intense. By 2025, three in four internet users — 600-650 million Indians — could consume short-form videos, spending nearly 55-60 minutes per day, according to a Bain report.

(Edited by : Amrita Das)

First Published:Feb 10, 2022 9:40 PM IST